Albert w



(No Model.)

A. W. HALE.-

INSULATOR FOR ELECTRIC WIRES.

N0. 301,446. Patented July 1, 1884.

FIB/l.

WITNESSES UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

-ALBERT W. HALE, OF PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

lNSULATOR FOR ELECTRIC WIRES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 301,446, dated July 1,1884.

Application filed July 13, 1883.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT W. HALE, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Plainfield,State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful improvement ininsulated supports for telephone, telegraph, electric light, or any kindof electric wires, and a new article of manufacture, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact specification and description.

My invention consists in insulating such metallic supports for electricwires as are infixed in the supporting-body by which they are upheldforexample, a telegraph-pole or cross-armby covering them with such acomplete coating, of insulating glaze that they are wholly protectedfrom the atmosphere as well as from contact with the wire, and thusmaking them insulators, by which I avoid the necessity of using glass,or porcelain, or expensive rubber insulators, and my supports arestronger and more durable, and do not require any auxiliary protectionfrom injury by friction. The importance of thus completely coating ametallic insulator with glaze arises from the fact that when the edgeofthe glaze is left exposed the surface of the metal is attacked by theoxygen in the atmosphere or other corroding atmospheric agents, and thecorrosion thus produced penetrates under the edge of the glaze andcauses it to flake off, and thus destroy the insulation. There are twomethods by which this destruction of the enamel can be avoided: first,by completely covering the metallic support with glaze, so that there isno exposed edge of enamel, and the metal is thus entirely protected; Ihave heretofore, on May 17, 1883, filed an application for a patentforthis device; second, by making use of the supporting-body for thesame purpose, in combination with the enamel in the case of insulatorshaving a portion inserted into such a supportingbody.

A form of my new insulated support, to which, however, I do not confinemyself, is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in which Figure 1 represents such a glazed insulator. Ais the head with prongs to fasten the wire. B O D is the shank,consisting ofa spike and a screw to be inserted in a suitable support.(Represented by G.) E is the wire.

Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of Fig.

(No model.)

1, with parts corresponding. In this the section of the coating of glazeH is shown by a double line entering the supporting-body G, (whichshould fit around it snugly,) preferably for upward of one-half an inch,and coveringa portion of the shank only, leaving all the rest-viz., thescrew and the spike-uncovered.

The metal base for the glaze may be cast or wrought in the form desired,and the whole insulator may be made in a single piece. The glaze may bemade of any composition in the nature of a glaze or frit that will insulate, the fusing-point of which is below the fusing-point of the metalto which it is to be applied. One composition may be as follows: twohundred and sixty parts of flint glass, forty-one parts of carbonate ofsoda, and twenty-four parts of boracic acid are ground and mixed andfused, and the resulting mass or frit reground, as is well known in thearts. It may be applied by laying it on the surface to be glazed bymeans of a brush or any other convenient method, after it is ground andmixed with water to form a paste, and after being dried may be fused onin a suitable muffle or furnace.

I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. As a newarticle of manufacture, metallic insulators for electric wires, having ashank to be inserted in the pole, cross-arm, or other supporting-body bywhich they are upheld, made insulating by a coating of glaze whichwholly covers the part exposed to the atmosphere, and in part also thatwhich penetrates such support, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, metallic insulators for electricwires, having a shank to be inserted in the pole, cross-arm, or othersupporting-body by which they are upheld, and which combine in a singlepiece a bearing for the wire, and a means of attachment to the supportinsulated and made insulating by a coatingof glaze which completelycovers the part exposed to the atmosphere, and in part also that whichpenetrates such support, arranged and operating substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

ALBERT W. HALE.

\Vitnesses:

RANDOLPH HURRY, J AMES J SULLIVAN.

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